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The mother contacted the police and maintained her conversation with the man in the hopes of gaining evidence, but was reportedly told the user could be based anywhere in the world and would be difficult to track.

"He then sent a video he had recorded from Musical.ly," the mother said.

"He goes on there and asks girls to do him a dance with their tops held up. I couldn't watch when I realised what it was."

The nine-year-old had been given an iPod so she could keep in contact with her dad. Her mother had ensured parental controls were active on the device and assumed her daughter was safe.

"It's hard to explain how I felt, firstly I felt anger," she said.

"We managed to save my daughter, but I can't help everybody. I can help by talking to the press but I can't save all these little girls.

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The mum has spoken to a spokesperson at Musical.ly who reportedly told her that her daughter should not have been using the app at nine years old, and after further communication has deleted her profile.

"You have to put your date of birth in to download the app, but children aren't stupid - they just change it so they can get on," the mum said.

How do I make a report?

You will need to complete an online form which will ask you for your contact details and information about what has happened. It will ask:

What happened?

Who did it happen to?

What do you know about the suspect involved?

You should complete the form as fully as you can but don’t worry if you don’t have all of the details.

Do I have to give my name?

When completing a CEOP report you are reporting suspicions of crime to law enforcement so we can’t receive anonymous reports.

If you want to discuss your concerns with someone first then call the NSPCC Helpline on 0800 800 5000

Who receives the report and what happens next?

All of the reports are first reviewed by child protection social workers. They will:

Read the report and assess the risk to your child

Look to make contact with you to discuss next steps

Give safeguarding advice and support

Support your child

It is important to remember that it can be difficult for a child to come forward and tell an adult what has happened to them – they are often embarrassed, fear adults won’t understand , scared they will get into trouble or that adults will over react. Ensure you tell your child that whatever has happened, it is not their fault and you are on their side.

Finding out your child has been sexually abused can be a traumatic experience. You may need additional support to come to terms with what has happened to your child.

Remember to SAVE ANY MESSAGES that have upset you so you can show them to who you tell - they will be able to help, and they will be able to give you good advice about what else you can do. Never worry about getting in trouble - you aren’t the one who has done anything wrong.

"I know it's my fault, but you just think it's her and her friends. I should have been more vigilant. Even for a 13-year-old to get these kind of messages would be unacceptable."

The mum wants to warn other parents to be mindful of what their children are doing online and who they are talking to.

"I just don't want parents to go through what I've gone through," she said.

"I want to make people aware that they have to check everything even if you have parental controls. We had parental blocks to stop things like pornography. You think you're untouchable but you're not, you need to go through their online friends and ask who people are. I didn't think anyone would stoop so low.

"I don't want to mollycoddle my daughter, but I want to protect her too. The last eight or so days have been a nightmare. I've seen things I can't unsee and read things I can't unread."

The Herald has contacted Musical.ly and is awaiting a response.

The app states on its website: 'We encourage you to oversee your teen’s internet use, including any apps they may download. Both iOS and Android provide parental controls that let you block or limit specific apps, features, movies, music, and more at the device level.

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'Because musical.ly is for users 13 and over only, we’ve given our apps a 12+ app store rating. This allows you to use these device-parental controls to simply block our apps from your underage child’s phone. Please see the Apple App Store or Google Play Store instructions for more on parental controls (or “restrictions”) and how to enable them.

'If you or your teen sees something that might violate our Terms of Service, please report it so our moderation team can take appropriate action. To report a video, tap on the three dots in the video and follow the on-screen instructions. To report a user, visit the user’s profile, tap on the three dots in the upper right corner, and select a reason for the report. This will then be sent to our moderation team for review.'

You should report malicious behaviour aimed at yourself to the administrator of the website/social media site being used.

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You should also take screen grabs of the offensive content and then block them. To block a person please check the how to guides of the website/social media site.

If the person who sent you the malicious content still manages to cause you emotional harm by texting, emailing or mailing you through the postal service please keep a copy of all material. Save texts, emails and letters/parcels, create a diary of offenses and call or email 101 for further advice.